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I'm interested in planting fruit trees...apple and peach...this spring. So dwarf apple trees are the way to go? Why? Is it because they're low to the ground for easy picking? ARe the apples as big as a regular sized tree?

Our farm is near Johnson City. Where do you go to buy trees? Or do you buy them and then the nurseries deliver them? Definitely a newbie here in the world of tree planting!

I'm interested in planting fruit trees...apple and peach...this spring. So dwarf apple trees are the way to go? Why? Is it because they're low to the ground for easy picking? Are the apples as big as a regular sized tree?

Our farm is near Johnson City. Where do you go to buy trees? Or do you buy them and then the nurseries deliver them? Definitely a newbie here in the world of tree planting!

My parents had a large orchard, mostly apple trees, but also a few pear, peach and cherry trees. Almost all of the varieties of apples did all right, but we never much luck with peach trees. The peach trees tended to bloom just a little too early and the blossoms would often get killed by a late frost. If you decide to plant peach trees, you might do a little research and look for trees that do well in your area; I think some of the newer varieties bloom later and therefore have a better chance of producing fruit.

We didn't have dwarf fruit trees, but I knew some people who did. The trees produced a lot of fruit for their size, but I don't think they live as long as regular size trees. The fruit is the same size on a dwarf as on a regular size tree.

You can buy fruit trees at a local nursery, but the choice of varieties will probably be limited. You can also order them though catalogs or online. Some sell trees with a root ball, but many are sold "bare root", especially the ones you find in a catalog. The catalogs will generally tell you which trees are self-pollinating and which need another variety of tree nearby to pollinate. The advantages of the bare root trees are that they are easier to ship and cheaper, but they will take longer to establish themselves and produce fruit and the failure rate is higher. Expect to lose maybe one tree out of three of the bare root trees. Buying from a reputable seller, such as Stark Brothers will improve the odds.

A couple of additional comments. Red cedar trees are hosts to a type of spore that affects apple trees. On the cedar it shows up as a gooey, orange ball about the size of a quarter. If you have cedar trees nearby, you need to keep an eye on this, or remove the trees (it isn't like we don't have enough red cedars in Tennessee). Also, it is often recommended that fruit trees not be mulched. If you don't mulch around the trees you need to be very cautious about mowing or trimming around the trees. You don't want to damage the bark at the base of the tree. You don't want to scrap the tree with the edge of a mower, or touch the tree with a string trimmer. Mowers can kill even a five-year-old tree.

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